


THE HEIST

by ladytrollfishes (tangelotime)



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Also a heist story, Gen, this is fantrolls
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-19
Updated: 2018-11-19
Packaged: 2019-08-26 04:53:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16674868
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tangelotime/pseuds/ladytrollfishes
Summary: The AU where Vadaya is kidnapped by rebels and Brainwashed instead, and his friends follow him. Kind of friends. Tomie barely counts.Daginy takes them all on a mission





	1. Chapter 1

It takes you ages to plan. You’re agitated constantly; your attention skips and jumps, you zone out, you get frustrated, you give up.   
  
But you have to get back on it, so you do.   
  
It’s hard to concentrate with the imps around. You don’t know them, not really. You don’t trust them even half as much as Herlyn and Mysmus. They have the advantage in case it came to combat. It would not be all that difficult for them to tear you apart and you have a some difficulties controlling your imagination when you think about how easy it would be for any one of them to kill you.   
  
Tomie isn’t so bad at least. He’s an open book and his psi isn’t offensive. You could probably pre-empt an attack and disappear. Nanako bounces around cheerily, but you’re fairly certain she could crush your skull with a punch, much faster than you could run or even turn invisible. Vadaya’s the worst. He’s unreadable, and the ways he could kill you are basically only limited by imagination, which you have a lot of. You wouldn’t have a chance as long as you were inside his range, which you were going to be. A lot.   
  
You don’t exactly sleep the first day out of the base, and it takes about a week for you to finally trust they weren’t planning on turning around and slitting your throat.   
  
And while you get why they’re following you, you’re not entirely sure why they don’t bolt once they have Vadaya out of the base, and make their own way out. You know you’re competent, most of the time, but you’d think highbloods would have a hard time taking orders from a younger, flinchy, hemoanon.   
  
You miss Mysmus. His absence was a serious ache. You missed his quiet humor, his steady presence, even the Heyfel sayings you were pretty certain he was just making up at this point to watch your nose wrinkle.   
  
You missed being able to reach out and grab onto that coat of his and tuck yourself into it when you were panicking, or afraid or really just because you felt like it.   
  
Between him and Herlyn, you actually felt safe.

 

But you don’t exactly have room to complain. You did this to yourself, after all. You just didn’t really expect it to turn out like this, when you burst in to rescue Vadaya. You didn’t think it through and you have no one to blame but yourself.   
  
You just… panicked, really, at the idea that your side was doing something that terrible, insisted you do something about it and as they usually did, Herlyn and Mysmus followed.   
  
They were coming more frequently now, the panic attacks.   
  
When you’re traveling, there’s fewer places to escape to, when you feel the panic coming, and it’s a whole new set of people you don’t trust trying to learn your triggers. You don’t explain why you can’t bring yourself to eat rice or white fish, or drink soup.   
  
Nanako caught you once, when you tripped, which resulted in an immediate panic attack, and Herlyn had to get you somewhere quiet and tucked away from what you were sure prying eyes.   
  
It doesn’t start an immediate coup, like you expected. Tomie insists on helping, up until Vadaya tells him to stop bothering you. Nanako doesn’t say much about it, just puts herself between you and everyone else and makes sure you can get peace and quiet when you need it. After that it gets easier to trust them.   
  
You told Vadaya what happened to you, when you were trying to make him believe you wouldn’t hurt Tomie. You’re not sure if he told the others, and you’re not sure if you should be grateful if he did.   
  
It’s not exactly a walk in the park for him either. He’s stopped taking care of his appearance. When you had found him he still had his hair trimmed and his beard shaved. He’s got scruff now, and you don’t think he’s touched a hairbrush except when Nanako fusses at him.

He also gets about as much sleep as you do, you’re pretty sure. You can’t afford to sleep one to a room, not on your dwindling funds. The second Herlyn snores, or Tomie rolls over, you’re awake. Sometimes you’ll hear Vadaya sit up, after you both jerk awake, and you’ll hear Vadaya shuffle quietly into the hall. Coffee is an investment, for the both of you.   
  
You settle into a schedule. You rarely stay in one place for more than a night. You separate and walk somewhat apart from each other so you don’t look like one big group.   
  
Too many adults in one place draws attention, especially when none of them are in imperial dress. They look like draft dodgers than anything else. You keep to big cities where adults aren’t uncommon, and you go out quite often with just Herlyn for company.   
  
You think you’re boring the imps. When you do need them, it’s a lot of standing watch thirty feet away from you as you talk to your various contacts. You have them handle some of the transactions- it’d look to weird for the child of a group to be making the decisions, but otherwise, there’s not so much to do. You think Nanako is at least getting very antsy.   
  
But despite your doubts, you’ll have something to do for them soon. You’re pulling together a plan but first you’re going to need some funds. You’re running low.   
  
You clear your throat when you enter the hotel room you’ve rented out, and you see four pairs of eyes turn towards you.   
  
“I have a plan,” you say quietly. “And I’m going to need help.   
  
You take a deep breath to try and ease away the nerves.   
  
"You’re all okay with assisting me in the field, right?” you ask.   
  
“Of course, lah!” Nanako exclaims, her leg bobbling as she leans back in her chair. “We here for a reason, yes? Let us off the leash!” She gives an excited clap and grins at you.   
  
Tomie nods eagerly, and when you glance at Vadaya, he nods, impassive as ever. You really wish you knew what was going on inside his head sometimes.   
  
Herlyn just gives you a thumbs up and a grin.   
  
“Alright,” you say, taking a seat yourself. “Our target is Gastra Hilben. She’s the CEO of a security company that specializes in storage. She’s got a couple private vaults in just about every major city. But she’s got her headquarters here.”

Tomie grins widely at the mention of vaults. “Never met a safe I couldn’t crack! We’re gonna steal all her stuff then yeah? Looking for something in particular?”   
  
You shake your head.   
  
“We’re going to take her reputation,” you say. “We don’t have enough time to worry about fencing stuff.”  
  
“Time? We’re running out of time?” Tomie asks, looking mildly alarmed.   
  
“We’ve got enough money to stay here for a little less than a week,” you say. “Then its sleeping on the streets for all of us.”  
  
You really don’t want that to happen. You and Vadaya wouldn’t be sleeping at all, if that was the case.   
  
“Oh,” Tomie says, deflating.   
  
“The goal here is primarily money,” you say quietly. “But we’re looking at an excellent opportunity for blackmail. Hilben has a lot of different clients who use her services to hide their secrets. Discretion is a big part of her business model.”  
  
“Double pronged blackmail,” Herlyn says, nodding approvingly. “You blackmail Hilben with her own clients.”   
  
“They won’t be very happy with her, for letting their secrets escape,” you say quietly.   
  
Nanako shakes her head, clicking her tongue. “Scary, lah,” she says. “Security will not be easy! How we getting in?”  
  
“We need recon first,” you say. “First she had to let us in. Vadaya, can you make something that weighs and feels like a gold coin?”  
  
You look at him, and his brow furrows just slightly, pausing a moment, before he says, “I have not attempted such a thing.”  
  
“Can you try?” You’re not surprised. His constructs are all purple, there’s been no point in trying to figure out if he can mimic something else.   
  
He focuses for a moment before he forms a large purple coin in his hand, his flesh one. He frowns, and it disappears before he tries again. This time, he seems satisfied and holds it out to you.   
  
You take the coin and consider it in your hand, nodding. You turn the coin over in your fingers and take a deep breath, then take the leap of faith. With a flourish of your own psi, you paint its purple color over with gold. Metallics and their shine are a little harder than just a color change, but it’s nothing you can’t handle.   
  
“Oh shit!” Tomie exclaims. “Was that psi? What did you do? Can I see?”  
  
You toss the coin over to him, keeping focus on it, and he ooos and aaahs and hands it over to Nanako, who bites it, then squints.   
  
“I have illusion psi,” you say. “It’s not actually gold. But whatever Vadaya can construct, I can make look real.”  
  
You watch their faces as they nod. Tomie looks excited, Nanako a little more pensive, and Vadaya, who simply nods.   
  
“I’m asking you guys to keep this a secret,” you say. “There aren’t too many people outside this room who know about my power.”  
  
“Not even the other rebels?” Tomie asks, and you shake your head.   
  
“Sipara knows I have psi,” you say. “She just doesn’t know what it does.”  
  
“Secret illusions stay secret when no one thinks, ah! Little one makes illusions, lah,” Nanako says, nodding. “We keep your secret.”  
  
She looks to the others, who nod in turn. You take a shaky breath and try to believe they’ll actually do it.

“Okay,” you say. “So here’s the plan.”


	2. Interlude

You need to drag this rock up the hill. It’s so important that you drag the rock, up the hill. It’s not an easy task, the rock keeps falling and you have to keep going down and getting it but you’re trying.

A hand brushes against your sweaty cheeks as you struggle.

“Oh poor baby,” Lyrian whispers in your ear, dragging her hands down your shoulders. “This must be so hard for you. It hurts doesn’t it?”

It does hurt, a curious ache in your head but it’s not as bad as you’re expecting, as you take one step and then another. But you stumble, and the rope slips out of your hands and you sigh and look at the rock falling back down the hill and there are hands grabbing you, keeping you from going back after it.

“Stay with me,” Lyrian whispers, cupping your cheeks in her hands and touching her forehead to yours. “Put down your burden. Don’t worry about it again. Give up. Give up.”

She lets go but you’re sinking, sinking into the ground, with the hands you can’t escape pulling you into darkness, suffocating darkness, empty, a comforting, smothering void. You don’t want to fight anymore, you’re dying, you’re paralyzed, you’re hopeless as the ground swallows you whole.

You wake up, tears streaming down your face as you try to stifle your sobs, pressing your hands to your face. What is wrong with you?

Your shoulders shake and it becomes clear that you’re fighting a losing battle, and you’ve probably already woken Vadaya, but that doesn’t mean everyone else needs to wake up too.

You pull yourself out of your pile as quietly as you can, and steal out of the room. You close the door behind you and you lean against the door and try to breath, but that breath turns into a hitch in your throats and you’re back to muffling sobs. You slide down the wall to curl into a ball, as you shake.

It’s just the stress, probably, that you’re dreaming so often, and dreaming like this. It’s fine, though. No matter how many times you give up in your dreams, you can’t do it when you’re awake. You have too much riding on you for that.

You hear footsteps down the hall, and immediately you freeze and turn invisible. You put a hand over your mouth to stifle the sounds of your sobs, and lean into the door frame. Maybe who ever it was would pass without noticing you and your breakdown.

The footsteps draw closer and closer and when you chance a look it’s Vadaya. You guess you didn’t wake him up after all. You realize belatedly you need to get out of the way if he’s going back into the room when he stops in front of you and reaches for the knob.

You push yourself out of the door, and crawl out of the way, but you must have made some kind of noise because Vadaya stops and turns to look around.

“Who’s there,” he says, low. You can see the tenseness in his pose as his gaze sweeps through the hall- he is a soldier, after all.

You hope he lets it go, chalks it up to his imagination, but instead his eyes glow purple as he forms a sword in his hand, and turns away from the door.

You… are still in the way. You scramble to at least sitting position and Vadaya frowns, turning to follow the sound as you back against the wall and whisper, “It’s me.”

He stands there, waiting with his glowing sword when you drop invisibility and scrub at your face.

“Sorry,” you say. “You scared me.”

For a moment you feel too vulnerable, curled up at the feet of large troll with a sword, but then he drops his psi as well.

“I see,” he says. “My apologies.”

There’s an awkward beat as he stands there, unsure as to what to do. You’re sure he can see the tear tracks on your face and your shaking shoulders, though you’re not crying now. You’re not sure what to do either. He doesn’t seem to be inclined to simply turn around and leave you alone, which is what you kind of expected.

“Are you alright?” He finally asks.

You almost snort. He sounds so awkward about it, and you’re pretty clearly not okay. He’s probably just trying to figure out if you’ll be in fighting shape the next night.

“I’ll just need a lot of coffee tomorrow,” you whisper. You’re so tired. You don’t remember what it feels like not to be tired anymore.

You put your head back on knees as more tears spring to your eyes and your shoulders shake. He’s still standing there, watching, and you feel the need to explain yourself more or something.

“It’s just-” you start, and hiccup. “I just wish I was better already. But I’ll be fine, sorry. Don’t worry about it.”

You need to be able to handle things, and you can’t, really, not like this.

He doesn’t move, still, and asks another question. “Do you… feel as though you should be better?”

You look up at him in surprise, still sniffling.

“I-” your voice breaks and you try again. “It’s been half a sweep,” you whisper. “I feel like I should.”

He pauses a moment, considering your words. You wonder if he thinks you weak for taking so long, but you can’t imagine he feels anything but awful, no matter how he well he hides it.

“You… are still functioning,” he says finally. “You are still doing your duty to us.”

You nearly say, “Yeah, but for how much longer?” but you bite your tongue. Vadaya doesn’t need to know how unsure you are of how safe you can keep your crew. You provide safety for him, and you can’t just take that away because you’re upset. You’re still in charge.

“Yeah,” you say, and push yourself to your feet, your back to the wall. You can’t look him in the eye as you do so, something inside you still expecting to get hit for trying to stand. “I’m- I’m going to take a lap- I- you should probably get what rest you can.”

You can’t see if he nods, but you’re already hurrying down the hall.


	3. Heist!!!

You try not to feel nervous as you stride on in. You’re Lady Marien Podoga and you’re a seadweller and you have absolutely nothing to fear. You’ve got your bodyguards George Dundee and Irishi Izhaca at your side, and you sure absolutely do not have anything to fear what so ever.

That doesn’t stop your skin from prickling at the stares and glances you get. You told Hadean once that this is the point where you usually have to run, but you’re not Daginy right now! You’re Marien.

Tomie and Vadaya step forward and open the double doors for you as you step in and watch as the secretary sits a little straighter and folds his fingers together on top of the desk. He’s teal, weedy looking, but you can’t see what he has under the desk. There could be anything there. There’s a few security officers, milling by the door behind you, casually chatting with each other as people come in and out of the office. They wear guns, one of them is olive, the other is cerulean. They’re wary of you, obviously, keeping their eyes on you as they chat. But you think it’s unlikely they’ll attack, so long as you can keep the disguise up.

“Um, ah yes, hello and welcome to-”

You cut him off with a wave. “I’m here to see Ms. Gastra Hilben,” you say softly. “And no, I don’t have an appointment.”

“Uh,” he says. “Let me see if she’s available she might not be in.”

“We can wait,” you say, and stand and watch as he picks up the phone on his desk and dials. You can practically see the sweat bead on his forehead. Poor dude.

“Ms. Hilben,” he says after a moment. “Are you available? There’s some here to see you.” A pause. “No- no appointment I- ah, of course-” he puts the phone to his chest and lean towards. “Name?” he asks.

“Lady Marien Podoga,” you say. It’s a fake ID you have set up, linked to a real world company that doesn’t update its website often enough to catch on to the fact you’ve added an extra profile to their board of directors. “I’m here as a client.”

“Lady Marien Podoga,” the secretary repeats into the phone. “She’s looking for business.”

A pause, as the secretary listens. Seadwellers aren’t a patient lot, you imagine, and you lay a careful hand on the table and clack your fingernails against it.

The secretary jumps- he’s only teal, as compared to your supposed caste, and you feel bad, but you can’t let it show on your face. You have to sell it.

“I uh, yes, Ms. Hilben, she’s right here next to me,” he says. “She’s uh, very distinguished.”

Another pause. You hold your breath.

“Please head on up,” he says with a nod, gesturing to the elevator behind him. “Her office is on the fifteenth floor and to your right.”

You give him the merest of nods and head over to the elevator. The secretary is pointedly not watching you as Vadaya hits the up button.

 _We’re head for the fifteenth floor,_  you think at Nanako.

 _Got it, lah_ , she says in return.  _Moving to a better position. All clear?_

 _Clear_ , you reply.

The door slides open with soft chime.

You step into the elevator and as the door closes behind you, Tomie leans over to you.

“Great-” he starts and you cut him off with a sharp wave of your hand. You look back up at him, still in character and raise an eyebrow.

“What did I say about talking to me, George,” you say quietly. You’re willing to bet someone, if not Gastra, has bugged the elevators.

Tomie’s expression drops and he straightens back up and you chew on your inner lip to resist the urge to apologize. You chance a glance at Vadaya, who hasn’t so much as twitched. You can’t see his eyes even. He’s wearing sunglasses, to hide the light his eyes make when he uses his psi, and Tomie’s wearing them to match.

You take a deep breath. You’re not ruining things now.

The elevator slides onto the fifteenth floor and you step out. It’s a small but luxurious office, full of windows and elegantly placed sun shields. A stocky cobalt woman steps forward to greet you, extending a hand towards you.

“Hi, Lady Podoga,” she says, all charm. She’s strong, clearly, adding muscle to the blueblood strength. Getting this close to her was dangerous, if she caught on to what you were doing. “I’m Gastra Hilben.”

Vadaya steps forward and holds an arm out, blocking her from getting too close. She startled and looks up at him, but he stares over her head.

“Please, Irishi,” you say. “I’m sure she means me no harm.”

Vadaya takes a step backwards and you nod towards Gastra.

“You must excuse my bodyguard,” you say. “There have been several assassination attempts lately and he’s a tad paranoid. All the same, I would decline a handshake.”

The minute she touched you and felt how warm you are, the gig would be up.

“Oh well,” she says, taking a step back and standing up straight. “I’m very sorry to hear that.”

“You have an office where we can speak privately?” you ask.

“Of course,” she says and gestures behind you to a frosted glass door and leads the way. While her back is turned you glance around to see what security she has up. You spot three security cameras, a motion detector and two heat sensors.

She opens the door to her office and you step inside. She’s got a similar set up in here, a camera, heat sensors and motion detectors. You soak in every detail and feel out the light with your psi as you walk in and sit down, Vadaya and Tomie standing at your flanks.

“Please, what can I do for you?” she says.

“You are certain we will not be overheard?” You ask. “No one will be listening in?”

“Of course not,” she says. “We do bug sweeps regularly. Discretion is a business value, after all.”

“I see,” you say. “Then we have business to attend to.”

You snap your fingers and Vadaya steps forwards and puts the briefcase on the desk. You focus and when he opens it, and reveals a set of four gold coins set into a black fabric cushion.

You scrounged the fabric and had Vadaya construct something that would hold it and the coins in the briefcase.

“They date back to the fourth Empress’ reign,” you say. “Tokens for her court of Ladies. There are nine in total, and the collectors are chomping for the entire set.”

Gastra leans forward to examine the coins, eyes wide.

“You have nearly half the set,” she says.

“And I don’t intend to lose them,” you reply. “You may touch them, if you like.”

She reaches out with a finger and fascinated, strokes the gold coin. You see something purple pass under you and around the desk and fly behind her husktop. You gave Vadaya a thumb drive with a key stroke program to plant in her compute.

Gastra sits back, satisfied.

“Well you’ve come to the right place,” she says. “I have the most secure safe in the city. Your collection is safe with me.”

“I need this off the books,” you say. “There are those who are aware that these four are in my possession. I am prepared to pay for it.”

You snap your fingers again, and Tomie sets his briefcase on the desk and opens it. Inside is a load of counterfeit caegars. You hope Gastra checks before she takes them to the bank.

“The combined worth of these four coins is worth two million caegars,” you say. “This is four hundred thousand, in terms of your fee of ten percent, doubled for your discretion. Are these acceptable terms?”

You keep watch on Gastra, and she keeps her face professional, a polite smile on her face as she scans the contents of both brief cases.

“Of course,” she says. “I would give you my standard contract, but you prefer this off the books, you say?”

“Yes,” you say. “I will sign a contract but no electronic copies.”

Gastra reaches for the cases- greed getting the better of her, you think, and you raise a hand.

“But first-” you say, as Gastra reaches for the cases, and she hesitates. “I would like to see your facilities. I want to know how my property will be protected.”

She hesitates, then straightens with a smile. “Of course,” she says, “It is only fitting you store your own things anyway. Come with me.”

She stands again and you follow her across the office, taking care to note the security measures once more. You pass into what’s clearly another wing of the office because Gastra puts her palm against a small screen by the door and scans her eyes.

“Biometric scanners,” she says, as the lock clicks open. “Doubly reinforced steel.” She glances back at you as she holds the door open. “Even your average seadweller can’t punch through it. It’s been tested against a psi rating of 7.5 on the Gamden scale.”

As she passes through the hall way, she points up around the hall. “We have motion detectors, heat sensors, and cameras that will alert a team of highly trained guards we have on rotation 24/7 every day with no exceptions.”

You pass a security check point with two guards sitting behind a desk, who check Gastra’s ID.

“They check everyone who comes through here, including me,” she says. “Shapeshifters.”

“I hope two guards is enough to deal with whatever threat comes,” you reply quietly.

“There’s more,” she says with a wave. “They do regular patrols and they’re on rotation. I expect we’ll run into more on the way.”

You study their faces as you pass, so you’ll be able to replicate it later, and pass on a description to Nanako.

“Do you have plans in place to deal with any psionic threats?” you ask.

“We hire nullifiers on the guard,” she replies. “We rotate shifts so we have at least one on each round.”

That wasn’t good. At least one meant there was sometimes more than one. If you got nullified during a break in, Vadaya was pretty much the only one who could remain a combat threat. Tomie would probably be unable to break into the locks safely and you have no real way of knowing who the nullifier will be.

You arrive at the end of the hall where there’s an impressive safe door. You stop to look at it, but Gastra gestures you on. “We have three safes built into this floor, all separate from each other,” she says. “I intend to place your items in one that’s in a less obvious position.”

You pause, then nod, and follow her around the corner as you see two guards appear out of a door. A break room?

You try and get a good look, but it’s hard to grab all the details of their face in a glance. You can see more parts of the uniform though, and you can see their belt full of tools. It looks like the standard arsenal is a gun, taser, handcuffs. You suspect they have nullifiers in the pouches as well.

She arrives at a another safe door, identical to the last one. It’s closed shut with a wheel handle next to a key pad.

“Electronic locks can be hacked,” she says. “But you can’t hack a twelve cylinder mechanical cycle.”

She hides her the code with her body, but you count fourteen tiny beeps as she punches something in. She steps back to show you as a panel in the wheel slides aside to reveal a combination knob, which she hides again, as she unlocks it.

There’s a series of thuds as she turns the wheel, and pulls open the door. From beyond it, you see a small room lined with locked boxes, each with two keyholes. There’s a series of sensors in here too, up in the corners.

“Motion detectors in here too, as well as a seismic sensor. The door itself is triply reinforced,” she says. “And each lock box has two keys. One master key which is always on my person-” She pulls a key on a chain from around her neck to show you. You zero in on the key, memorizing the look of its bumps and ridges. “And a key for you.” And she pulls another one from her pocket and holds it out to you.

Tomie intercepts it with his free hand and looks back at you. You can tell he’s trying not to.. do  _something_  with his face. You’re not sure.

Gastra coughs into her hand and brushes her hand down the front of her suit. “Yes, excuse me,” she says. “Your box will B439.” They’re all labeled accordingly, and she inserts her key into one of the locks and gestures for Tomie to do so accordingly.

“On my count,” she says. “Three, two, one.”

And with a click, the box slides open, empty and waiting for your fake artifacts. Vadaya steps forward and places his case into it, and the drawer slides back closed. You hold your hand out for the key and Tomie drops it into your palm.

“I promise you, Lady Podoga,” Gastra says. “Your coins are in the safest place on planet.”

“Now let’s see about that contract,” you say.

“Of course,” she says, and leads you back to her office.

The contract she lays out for you is pretty standard. It’s about what you’ve seen on her website, with the promise to keep your valuables secured and a 100% guarantee upon loss of the item. You send the whole thing to Nanako to record it down.

She signs it with a flourish, then with a pin, pricks her own finger and presses a bloody finger print into the contract.

You sign it too, as Marine Podoga, and pull out your own knife pricking a finger and pressing your decidedly not really purple blood into the paper. Your illusions will cover that for you, up until she pulls it out again without you around.

She waves the contract in the air to dry it, then puts it away into a folder.

“Thank you for your business,” Gastra says, smiling, as Tomie slides his brief case over the table.

You’re out in ten minutes and you have to escape to an alley and hyperventilate for a while, as Vadaya stands guard out towards the street and Tomie flits nervously next to you.

“Kid, kid, you were  _great_ ,” he says. “That was amazing, you were  _terrifying_ , don’t- no don’t worry about it, this job is going to go great, that safe’s got nothing on me, we’re going to do this job so well-”

You ask Nanako to send Herlyn and bury your face into your knees.

It takes less than a minute for both of them to arrive, Nanako immediately distracting Tomie and leading him away as Herlyn settles in close to you, draping your jacket across your shoulders as you lean on her.

“That was a lot, huh?” she whispers. You nod, pressing your fingers to your eyes and unclipping the hair extensions, and pulling your jacket closer to you. “I wish I coulda seen you work though, that must have been pretty damn cool.”

She hands you your eyepatch, now that you’re not using your psi to fake a pupil in your conformer, and you slide it back on, feeling a little bit more secure.

“Do you need a moment?” she asks, and you shake your head. You don’t  _have_  a moment. You need to pull it together, because you have a pretty short time frame on this job. You gesture everyone to gather around, but they’re distracted and you can’t find the voice for it.

“Hey, guys,” Herlyn says for you. “Gather ‘round.”

The imps step back closer to you, Nanako and Tomie chattering as Vadaya stands there, ready as ever to accept orders.

“Nanako,” you whisper, and make an illusion of the guards you saw. “Last one of these four you see walking out of this building, grab them. We need the ID and uniform, then have him get very lost. It’s gonna be a stake out.”

She straightens and gives you a salute, then steps back.

“Herlyn, you’ve got the transcript of the contract right?” you say, and she nods and produces the notepad. “Tomie, you saw it, make a copy of it, as close as you can get.”

He salutes.

You make an illusion of the master key. “Vadaya, can you construct this?” you ask. He frowns at the illusion for a moment, then forms a purple key in his hand. “Find a keysmith and make a permanent copy before either of us forgets what it looks like.”

“Take a picture! Then no one forgets, lah,” Nanako pipes up. You pause for a moment, then sink your head to your knees again.

It’s so  _obvious_ , you can’t believe you missed that.

“Okay, pictures,” you say, waving your hand in the air. “Leaves less of a trail anyway. Bring out the palmhusks, get a couple angles. Oh and get this too.” You do an illusion of the contract as well. Gastra’s signature on it will be important.

“Got it,” Tomie says.

“No worries no worries,” Nanako says. “Go get some rest now, yes? Cannot have you do everything, lah.”

You take a deep breath. You’re  _exhausted_ , and you’re going to have to try and pull this heist  _today._

“Stay in contact, okay Nanako?” you ask. “And Tomie, if you could, when you come back, could you uh, get me some coffee?”

It’s weird asking an adult blueblood to do a coffee run for you, but he just gives you a salute.

“Come on, let’s get you back to the room,” Herlyn says and holds up a hand to haul you to your feet. You take it, glance at the imps, and nod.

“Let’s go,” you say.


End file.
